Tuesday, 21 September 2010

This pork pie recipe is probably one of the best you will ever find, if you plan on changing any part of this recipe, I suggest you alter only the seasoning of the meat to suit your palate, the hot water pastry should never be altered.

Sieve the flour and add salt and 2 eggs, mix together and make a well in the middle for the liquid mix.

Slowly melt butter and lard in the water, do not boil,add to the pastry mix and bind together, now cover and store for 4 hours to cool or better still overnight but not in the fridge.

Work your pastry at ambient temperature for this makes hand raising easy to apply. Once you have raised your pastry within a pie mould, place your meat firmly inside avoiding any air pockets, place a pastry lid on top and crimp. Brush your pies with an egg wash before placing them in a hot oven at 180c for 20 minutes then reduce the heat to 160c for a further 1 hour. If you have used pie moulds then out turn 15 minutes from the end and brush with egg wash once more, then finish the baking by returning them to the oven for the last 15 minutes. Allow your pies to cool on a trivet or cooling rack before filling with gelatine.

Tip: Do not use any substitutes, only use real butter, lard and free range eggs. Always top up your pie with gelatine for this dispels any air held between the pastry wall and the shrunken cooled meat and by doing so it will help you to achieve a shelflife of approximately 10 days. Using bacon or anchovies will achieve a cured pork pie mix thus also helping the shelflife and offers a slightly deeper flavour, if an uncured pork filling is required, then leave these ingredients out, just remembering the shelflife of the pie will be shorter.